Ernst Exposes More Jaw-Dropping Wasteful Foreign Aid at USAID

WASHINGTON – During a U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing, Senate DOGE Caucus Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) exposed millions of dollars of waste at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Ernst has been leading the fight to combat waste at USAID and recently sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio a letter detailing the repeated stonewalling by the rogue agency to mislead, lie, and deceive the American people about how their tax dollars are spent.

“Imagine how much more good work could be done if we used those dollars that, instead, ended up enriching terrorists and mad scientists in adversarial countries,” said Ernst. “It’s no surprise that Washington insiders are more upset at DOGE for trying to stop wasteful spending than at USAID for misusing their constituents’ tax dollars. The question that we really should be asking at this point isn’t why USAID’s grants are being scrutinized, but why it took so long.”

Click here to watch Senator Ernst’s remarks.

Ernst highlighted several of the worst examples of waste at USAID, including $20 million for Sesame Street in Iraq, more than $9 million intended for Syrian civilians that wound up in the hands of violent terrorists, $27 million for deportation services, including Barbie doll gift bags, and $69,000 for dance classes in Wuhan, China.

She also questioned investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger about why USAID is so secretive in its spending.

Ernst closed the hearing by blasting Washington insiders for being more concerned with blocking transparency efforts than preventing waste.

###